


To hide a secret

by FedonCiadale



Series: A thousand eyes and one [3]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2021-01-24 09:00:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21335641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FedonCiadale/pseuds/FedonCiadale
Summary: Sansa has to hide a secret that will disrupt their careful planning.
Relationships: Jon Snow/Sansa Stark
Series: A thousand eyes and one [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1522172
Comments: 28
Kudos: 82
Collections: Jonsa 100 Drabble Challenge





	To hide a secret

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pandizzy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pandizzy/gifts).

> This is for the Jonsa drabble challenge, a continuation of my Bran is Bloodraven AU.... I tag pandizzy!

The letter would have to be short so as not to raise suspicion. Sansa trusted Maester Wolkan, but Jon did not trust the Maester at Castle Black. He had been sent on the suggestion of Archmaester Sam, but Jon did not know where his former friend stood, or if he even knew the truth.

But she needed to tell Jon. They needed to act sooner than they had planned, maybe even before Arya returned. Sansa had tried to contain her despair for days.

_“Shortly after you had left for the wall, merchants from across the Narrow sea visited Winterfell to trade their goods. They brought a root with a fresh smell and taste. They swear this “ginger” helps in cases of the flux, or even the bloody flux. I heard there was a problem amongst the Freefolk this spring. I do hope that you can prevent the spread of this nasty illness in time before it reaches our population in the North. I am surprised that I had to hear about this from a brother of the Night’s watch who passed Winterfell instead of getting a raven by you. I would have expected the Lord Commander to be more diligent in his duty to protect the lands south of the wall.”_

Sansa scrutinized the paper. She hoped the tone was just right. Slightly annoyed, a hint of a command, and most of all, not friendly. Friendly would not do.

She wished she had succeeded in warging over long distances. But although she was getting better and trained daily, the Wall was to far away. Her connection to Ghost had broken, when Jon had reached Last Hearth. Sansa sighed. Even if she would manage to warg over this distance, it was not easy to communicate clearly while warging. The mind of wolves, even a clever wolf like Ghost was not meant to hold concepts or plans. It was only feelings, smells, sensations that were on the level of his understanding. Still, what she had to tell Jon might have been possible to convey in Ghost’s images. Instead Sansa would have to trust the code she and Jon had agreed upon.

She checked the wording of the scroll. Her cat looked at her with shimmering eyes and Sansa caught herself just in time. She had thought about what to write the whole night. She did not need to count letters. She had lain in the dark of her chamber and had thought up this message. All true and nobody would suspect that there was a hidden meaning.

Sansa wooed the cat to her side and petted her. She slipped into her mind, ever so lightly, just a brush on the cat’s brain, her touch so feeble, that there was a chance it could look like happenstance, in case it was not just the cat.

She felt an oppressive alertness, that clouded the cat’s mind. Sansa had no doubt that Bloodraven had no problems of mastering an animal’s mind to the patterns of his thoughts. She let her own touch trail away, continuing to pet the cat, letting her even look at the scroll.

_Ghost is fully Jon’s but my cat is not fully mine. Is it that Jon is better at warging, or is it that Septon Barth has it right? Wolves, ravens, crows are the easiest? It is no use forcing this anyway. Best just take advantage of the spy._

Sansa stood, scooping up the cat. “Do you want a treat?” _It’s not her fault._

The cat purred.

Sansa went all the way to the castle’s kitchen, probing the cat’s mind once more, just shortly before she entered the kitchen. The burden of Bloodraven’s dark presence was still on the animal’s mind.

_I wish that monster had something else to do, just once in a while._

The kitchen staff began to buzz with excitement immediately, when their Queen made one of her rare visits. The cook Kira gladly gave the cat some cream. She was known as a quick and good mice catcher and was very popular. For a moment the cat was preoccupied with the cream.

Sansa took the chance. She sauntered along, touching the shelves here and there, and while the cat licked busily and thoroughly at the cream pot, she filched some liquorice twigs into her sleeves.

_Stealing from my own kitchen._ She could trust Maester Wolkan to make an inconspicuous refill.

Sansa was relieved. She would need the liquorice the next morning at the latest. She turned and saw Maggy from the corner of her eye. _Did she see me taking the liquorice? Does she know what it is for?_

Sansa remembered that it had been Maggy who had been close when she had first tried to warg Ghost. _Is she one of Tyrion’s? _

Best not take any chances.

\-----

She rarely walked the godswood nowadays. She had lost her ability to pray long ago, and the tranquillity of the weirwood tree did not comfort her any longer. Even though she knew there were no weirwoods in King’s Landing she still felt observed. If she still had Lady, she probably could ward the place from other animals, but Lady was long dead.

But today, she sat at the weirwood. Maybe she wanted the Old Gods to watch, or maybe she just wanted to remember her father and his sense of justice for this. The trap was set. Sansa tried to make the best of it. She basked in the yet feeble spring sunlight and let the rays of sunshine dance on her hands, when a slight breeze touched the leaves of the tree and made them ripple. She probed the small animals around her and did not perceive any oppressive presence. She might be lucky today.

Sansa’s heart skipped a beat, when she saw Maggy approach. That she searched her out here was an indication, that she was a spy. She must have bided her time once she had learned about Sansa being all on her own. Sansa could have cried.

In Maggy’s hand was a tray and the small bowl was steaming in the fresh air. Sansa made herself smile, when Maggy approached. She tried to assess if the serving girl was likely to have a knife. Her own blade felt cool at the inner side of her arm.

“Your grace, I brought you some broth. It is still so chilly.” Maggy’s smile was all teeth, as if she had no care in the world.

“Did Cook Kira send you?”, Sansa asked. “How considerate!”

Maggy nodded, eagerly.

_No, I am quite certain, Kira did not send you. Kira is very unlikely to pamper me._

Sansa took the bowl and feinted warming her hands on the bowl. She held her right hand over the bowl and dropped the two little balls, she had pressed between her fingers. Wolkan had assured her that they would unveil the most popular poisons and another plant she should not consume.

Sansa slowly let the broth slosh in the bowl and watched the little balls dissolve. If they did not show anything, she still would not drink the broth. It might mean that Maggy was innocent, but no colour more likely meant that the little serving girl was skilled with unusual poisons.

There it was. One of the balls let out a thin trail of blue, that slowly raised to the surface of the liquid. It looked as if there was a dying fire in the bowl, that let out a thin finger of smoke.

_Tansy, it means tansy. _Sansa felt a cloud of sadness descend on her.

Sansa listened closely and she thought she heard the girl’s breath going faster than the short walk to the Godswood could account for. She frowned into the bowl and that caught Maggy’s attention.

Sansa’s heart raced. _I can do this. I must do this. Not just for me._

She handed the bowl to Maggy, hoping to occupy the maid’s hands, if only for a moment. She willed her own hands to stop trembling and be nimble and swift.

Maggy stared into the bowl.

“What is this?” The maid’s voice wavered.

Sansa had rounded the maid. She had drawn the knife and held it at the maid’s back, hoping that a casual observer would not see anything amiss.

“Tansy,” she whispered into Maggy’s ear. “Why would you put tansy in my food?”

The maid gasped, her breath faltered.

“Your grace,” she whispered.

Sansa could see tears forming in her eyes, threatening to fall.

“I should kill you on the spot, but I may let you live, if you tell me enough. And don’t move. We are both just looking at the broth.”

Sansa risked a brief look around. At least no big animals were around, and small animals might not grasp what was happening. She let her mind scatter through the clearing trying to pick up animals’ minds.

_And he has to be preoccupied elsewhere at least once in a while or he wouldn’t need human spies._

The maid was breathing so fast, that Sansa feared she would faint, and tears were streaming down her cheeks now for real.

“Calm yourself girl,” Sansa whispered.

Interrupted by suppressed sobs the girl told it all. Thankfully it turned out, she was one of Tyrion’s spies. She had no idea about Bloodraven and his magic. Sansa learned that the girl had a communication system with Tyrion, but it was irregular, because Tyrion did not trust Maester Wolkan not to read raven messages. That came as no surprise to Sansa.

Sansa pressed the point of the dagger a bit deeper into the girl’s back. Now, these questions were important.

“Why did you want to give me the tansy?”, she asked.

“I had my orders. If I only had the suspicion that you might carry a child, I was ordered to act accordingly. I suppose, they want the North back in the Seven Kingsdoms after your death.”

Sansa resisted the temptation to place a hand protectively on her belly.

“Why did you suspect?”

“You don’t wear your choker any longer.” The girl eyed her sideways and Sansa wondered if the tears had been a ruse.

“The throat becomes thicker, just a tiny bit, when you’re pregnant, enough to make a choker uncomfortable.”

Sansa had to steady her hand.

That girl was too clever by far. _Do I have to kill her? She took care not to tell me, how she communicates with Tyrion. Her knowledge could be useful._

There was so much at stake. Could she risk the girl spilling her secret, a secret she herself hoped to keep for as long as possible? _Use her or kill her? What would father do? What would mother do?_

“But you were not ordered to kill me?”

The girl shook her head. _Why? He doesn’t want me to have children, but he does not want me dead?_

She looked at the trembling girl.

_Use her or kill her? Will she try to contact the Hand about this? If I kill her, how do I explain her absence? Will her silence raise suspicions? _

“Why do you work for him?”

The girl was silent for so long, that Sansa wondered if she was working on an elaborate lie.

“My brother is in the dungeons at King’s Landing.”

The leaves of the weirwood tree trembled. Sansa thought she could hear a wolf howling, far, far away.

She had her answer then. Her dagger made a whispering noise when she sheathed it. _I can’t become like him. _Maggy’s shoulders sagged in relief.

“Don’t betray me again. I will kill you, if you do. I can’t make promises, but when this is over, you might see your brother again.” _If he still lives. If he even exists_.

Maggy nodded.

Sansa turned around to face the girl again. She raised her palms to show the girl that the dagger was gone. She could not coerce the girl and hope for collaboration. She would have to use her hope. She would have to observe her to learn how she communicated.

Her heart beat against her rib cage, her mind screamed at her not to take such a risk. Her legs felt weak. She quickly checked her surroundings. No big animal was near. She extended her senses, brushing the minds of a hedgehog that was about to wake from his winter’s sleep and a badger. There was nothing unusual about them. She wished there was a wolf nearby. They made her feel safe.

She tried to sound confident and was surprised to hear no waver in her voice.

“You will begin earning my good will by writing down how you communicate with the master of whisperers. You will slip this sheet under the accounts on my desk. You will continue to make regular reports exactly as I tell you. Be prepared to get my orders in strange ways. Destroy any written order you get.”

Sansa waited until Maggy had left. The excitement had ebbed away and if she concentrated, she could feel the queasiness in her stomach grow. With a sigh she took the liquorice out of her pocket and began chewing on it.

She should feel joy about the child that grew in her womb. The child that she had conceived despite of drinking moon tea. The whole North should celebrate that the Queen expected.

Instead her worries had multiplied, and the urgency of their plans had increased.

She wished for Arya. Her heart ached for Jon. She was alone though and had to be strong for all their sakes. She would not let Bloodraven win.


End file.
